by Troy Osgood
Hall regretted having Pike flying overhead yesterday but it was too late. He hoped that a strange bird seen in the air once would be dismissed.
Cresting the path, he stepped onto the plateau and paused, taking it in. The ground was dirt and exposed stone rising up on a slight angle. Thirty feet wide at this point with the path continuing beyond. The flat plateau extended to the northeast, around the curve of the mountain. He could make out the first of the standing stones beyond, the noise of the two waterfalls loud and overwhelming, something Hall was thankful for.
Stepping away from the edge, spear in hand, Hall started toward the first stones. They were arranged like an arch, a gateway. Two stones set vertically into the ground, six feet wide with that side facing Hall and the path, about six to eight feet between them. Laid across the top was a thin slab. All the stones were smooth, perfect, untouched by wind or rain. Not much could be seen beyond the gate of stones which were set where the plateau curved around the mountain.
The grass, in patches around the exposed stone, was green with a few plants. As he got closer to the stones, Hall saw the patches start to change from green to brown and dying. The moss, which was green, now took on a purple tinge. It looked sickly, dying.
Hall paused at the stones, off to the side of the opening. He looked back at Leigh. The Druid looked toward the stones, back to the ridge that led away from all this and back toward the stones. Hall could see the inner fight that Leigh was waging. Duty and responsibility won out.
She nodded at Hall.
Taking a tighter grip on his spear, Hall stepped through the stone opening.
Before him was a long meadow, not that wide and maybe a quarter mile long. The waterfall from the higher plateau was midway down, cascading down the rock face into a small pool that turned into the stream that continued to another pool and then flowed to the waterfall that fell to the lower meadow. Small groves of trees filled the space, wide open spaces around and between them. Around the central pool was a circle of standing stones, sets of two vertical stones with one laid horizontal, the top of a tall tree above.
There was no noise beyond that of the waterfalls. No birds flying, no animals running around the grass. The whole thing was peaceful but just felt wrong.
Groves were supposed to be peaceful. Places of serenity, but there was always activity. There were always Custodian Druids, visiting Centaurs or Satyrs, or some other forest creature, always wild animals roaming the Grove.
Here, there was nothing.
Just the wrongness.
It wasn’t just the colors of everything. Where there should have been greens and browns, there was purples and grays. Instead of the color of life, there was the color of corruption. Moss grew everywhere, shades of purple, climbing up the trees and hanging from the branches. The trees were all drooping, branches hanging lax. The bushes and smaller trees were thin, leaves gone, sickly-looking things.
Hall felt sick as he walked deeper into the Grove. He checked his stats and saw no changes, no debuff, but he still felt it. His stomach churned, his head hurt. He just felt wrong.
“No. Oh no,” Leigh said as she stepped through the stones. She started to cry. “I should have come sooner. This is my fault…” her words trailed off as she collapsed to the ground crying.
“What happened here?” Sabine said, coughing and gagging.
“It’s corrupted,” Leigh said, gasping it out between sobs. “The Grove has been desecrated.”
They all looked out across the landscape, fighting back the feeling of wrongness.
“Can it be saved?” Hall asked.
“I think so,” Leigh said, forcing herself to stand up. “Yes, I can do it.”
QUEST COMPLETE!
You have escorted Leigh, Druid of the Tree, to the Lost Grove on Edin.
THE LOST GROVE
Reward: +500 Druids of the Tree Renown, +500 Alliance with Leigh, +20 Experience
“What do you need from us?” Hall asked.
He had never really cared about the mission of the Druids, never truly understood what they did. He had only cared about the quests and the experiences and rewards. But looking at this Grove, at what had been done to such a special place, he had to fix it. He had to help bring it back to what it should be.
“We have to find out why it got corrupted and what happened to the Custodian.”
THE CORRUPTED GROVE
Leigh, Druid of the Tree, has asked your help is discovering what has corrupted the Grove on Edin.
Find the Source of Corruption 0/1
End the Corruption of the Grove 0/1
Reward: +1000 Druids of the Tree Renown, +1000 Alliance with Leigh, +500 Experience
ACCEPT QUEST?
Hall didn’t hesitate in accepting the quest. Glancing at Sabine and Roxhard, they nodded. They had accepted as well. They all tightened grips on weapons and staffs.
“Be alert,” Hall said. “We don’t know what’s ahead.”
He started forward, the others spread out around him. He thought about having Roxhard take the point but wanted the Dwarf to be able to use the Battle Rush ability to start the fight off. The ability wasn’t usable if the Dwarf was engaged. Hall as a Skirmisher was no tank, but he could take some damage if absolutely needed and Leap out of the way when Roxhard charged in. His leather light armor wouldn’t allow him to take many hits, but he could hold an enemy’s attention for a short time if needed.
They walked through the trees, avoiding touching anything. The grass, mostly moss, was springy under their feet. Each step sank into the wet and slippery surface. They pushed on deeper into the Grove, coming up to the circle of Standing Stones.
Hall paused, listening, looking around. He thought about sending Pike up but held the dragonhawk back. Taking a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, Hall stepped through the stone and into the Grove itself.
The Branch of the World Tree was easily thirty feet tall and the trunk almost six feet around. It was called a Branch because the lore said this tree was a splinter of the World Tree that was broken off when Hankath was fractured. Each island had a at least one Branch of the World Tree, and it was those Branches that kept the islands floating and anchored in relation to each other.
This tree was once white with hints of gold and silver in the branches and bark. It would have been beautiful. Full, lush, branches reaching high into the sky. Now it was sickly, looking more like a weeping willow than the oak that it was. The bark was gray, cracked. The branches all drooped and many were without leaves. The silver leaves that should have shined were now purple and black, lacking any luster at all.
It sat on an island of grass and dirt, the thick roots exposed, in the middle of a pond. The island was about twenty feet around, the pond was another ten feet from shore to store. A path of large stones stood an inch or two above water, leading from the shore to the tree. Each was two or more feet in size, a foot between. The waters of the pond moved swiftly with the current, the water pushed by the waterfall.
Hall circled to the left, motioning Roxhard to the right. They moved to where they could see the entire island. Aside from the tree, there was nothing. He saw there was another path of walking stones on the other side of the island.
“By Abnoba,” Leigh exclaimed, shocked.
She pointed to the tree.
Hall focused on where she pointed, finding what had caught her attention. About midway up the trunk, ten feet or so off the ground, was a black spike sticking out of the tree. What looked like blood, dark sap, leaked out around the nail.
“What is that?” he asked.
“A Demon’s Nail,” Leigh replied.
THE CORRUPTED GROVE
Leigh, Druid of the Tree, has discovered a Demon’s Nail spiked into the World Tree. It is undoubtedly the source of the corruption.
Find the Source of Corruption 1/1
End the Corruption of the Grove 0/1
“What is a Demon’s Nail?” Sabine asked.
She walked to the edge
, studying the black spike. It was small from where they were, barely visible, but they could all feel the darkness radiating from the small object.
“When a contract is struck with the Dark Man, to sign the deal he gives the person a Nail to drive into the object they held most dear. It is a sign of the person accepting the dark powers,” Leigh explained. There was an edge to her voice, an anger that Hall had never heard before.
The one person that the Settlement Stone had counted, it was the Grove’s Custodian. The person that was entrusted with the care and safety of the World Tree had been the one to corrupt it.
“The Dark Man,” Roxhard asked. His eyes were fixed on the tree and the spike. Instead of looking around, studying the land and searching for threats, the Dwarf was fixated on the tree.
“Feardagh,” Leigh spat on the ground as she said the name.
A name they all knew. A demon, a follower of Balor the Corrupt. The one that was responsible for the fracturing of the world. The Dark Man was chaos, anarchy.
Sky Realms Online had no true Gods, no true religion. The various races called on Spirits in place of Gods, for the same purposes. Some argued that the Spirts were Gods, just not called that. For the most part, as it didn’t affect gameplay, no one cared.
Now, apparently, it appeared that the spirits and the demons did affect the world.
“Can we remove it?” Sabine asked.
“I don’t…” Leigh began, pausing, studying the nail, thinking of all that she had heard about such things. “I don’t think so. I think only the corrupted can.”
“Or killing the corrupted,” Sabine stated.
“Yes,” Leigh said, steel in her voice, determination and resolve. “That would destroy the Nail.”
“Let’s move,” Hall said, leading them out of the standing stones to the east, away from the mountain side.
They crossed the pond and saw the meadow stretching out, a forest beyond along the bottom of the far mountain. A brook meandered across the meadow, coming out from under the mountain and turning into the small pond.
A stone bridge arced over the brook. There was no railing, the stones tight fitting, covered in moss. Thin, barely wide enough for one person to walk across, Hall hesitated at the bottom. The brook was only about ten feet wide, the water moving fast and rapidly over the rocks. It looked deep, thick with purple plants. Placing one foot carefully on the bridge, he started the slow walk across.
They gathered on the other side facing into the far side of the Grove. The trees were thicker, the corruption worse. The mountain curved back to the cliff, ending the meadow and the forest, a wall of stone that contained the corruption. Dark, large shadowed shapes could be seen moving beneath the trees.
“Moss Shamblers,” Leigh said, pointing at the shapes. “Guardians of the Grove.”
“Connected to the Grove,” Hall asked, watching the seemingly random movements of the shadows, knowing the answer.
“Yes,” Leigh answered. “They’ll be corrupted as well.”
“Can we avoid them?” Roxhard asked.
“No. They’ll come to the aid of the Custodian.”
Leigh had come to the same conclusion that Hall had. The Custodian had been the one to corrupt the World Tree.
“So, we need to kill them all,” Hall stated.
“We’ll lose the element of surprise,” Sabine said, shaking her head, finger raised and trying to count the moving shapes.
“I don’t think we ever had it,” Hall said. “Tell us about the Shamblers.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Hall stabbed out with his spear. The tip cut into the Corrupted Moss Shambler, pushing through and poking out the other side. There was no budge to the creature’s health bar, the strike doing no damage. Hall cursed and jumped back as the long arm swung out. He ducked and felt the pressure wave as the limb barely missed connecting.
It would have done significant damage if it had hit.
The Shamblers were strong even though they did not look it. A giant pile of roots and moss, plants and vines, held together by the magic of the Grove. They stood eight feet high, incredibly wide. Hunched over, the arms hung down to the ground as they walked on thick tree stump-like legs. They shambled, sliding more than walking, which is how they got their names. No neck, the head just grew out of the shoulders. Two bright red eyes, large orbs, with drooping tendrils framing the face. The creature made no noise as it moved, just the sound of the legs sliding across the ground.
He could feel the heat behind him, waves coming off the burning Shambler.
It had been the first they had come across, and their plan had worked. Being a creature of moss and vines, stabbing it would do no good. Only blunt weapons or magic would harm the Shamblers. Or slashing as Roxhard had discovered when he started cutting chunks off with his axe. The Shambler was too large, too tough with too much Health, for that to be an effective strategy. They hit too hard.
They had prepared torches, finding the driest and least rotted wood they could. Hall and Leigh each carried one as neither had magic or weapons that would harm the Shamblers. The plan was for Roxhard to hold the creature’s attention while they worked to light it on fire. Sabine would stand back and fire Shadowbolts at it.
A good plan that was working on the first one but when a second came bursting out of the trees, Hall had to drop his torch and attack with the weapon at hand. His spear.
He had hoped to do some damage or at least slow it down. The long weapon did neither. And worse, the burning one was not dead yet, occupying both Roxhard and Sabine. They could not leave until it was dead, and the wet creature was slow to burn.
Hall turned the Shambler, leading it away from the others. He could see Leigh behind it, with Angus, looking for a way to attack. She held her magical cudgel in hand waiting for her chance. Pike hovered over the cow.
He backed up, feeling a tree behind him. His spear still stuck in the creature, and he struck with the flat of his blade, dealing no damage to the creature but prompting a retaliation. The arm swung out, but Hall was in too close and easily ducked. The limb slammed into the tree, shaking the trunk, cracking the bark. The Shambler’s arm snapped, the roots holding it together breaking. The front part bent forward.
Dumbly, the creature lifted the arm or tried to. The hanging part was too heavy, causing the limb to drag on the ground. That was when Leigh struck.
She swung her Epic level weapon, the Ironwood Shillelagh Of Thunder, with as much might and momentum as she could. The weapon’s end slammed into the back of the Shambler sending bits of moss, root and vine into the air like a small explosion. The Shambler turned at the attack, ignoring Hall and focusing on the one that had done some damage.
Pike flew up, hovering in front of the creature, and opened his mouth in a screech. A bolt of lightning shot out, striking the Shambler in its face. Smoke curled up from the few bits of dried roots. The creature stumbled back, what was once its face now gone. Burned and destroyed.
Leigh swung again. The cudgel slammed into the Shambler, more of it exploding outward from the impact. Again, she hit the creature, this time the impact was followed by a deep boom, and almost half of the Shambler’s chest disappeared. The creature stumbled back, disoriented and unable to move. The magic of Leigh’s cudgel had activated.
Hall took advantage of the stunned Shambler. He jumped up onto its shoulders, reaching down and holding on to a root growing out of the top of its head. Taking his sword, he started chopping at the shoulder joint, pieces of root and vine falling away.
The creature moved, and Hall jumped off, the Shambler’s arm falling away.
“Its leg,” Hall shouted as he landed.
He quickly scrambled to the side as Leigh swung at the Shambler’s closest leg. More parts of its body exploded at the impact, leaving a gaping hole. The Shambler shifted, leaning, as it tried to take its weight off the destroyed leg.
Angus charged, slamming into the Shambler’s chest. Off balance, it fell backward. The small cow
reared up, falling back to the ground and slamming his front hooves onto the Shambler’s chest. The weight and impact pushed large holes into the creature.
Hall lined up with the Shambler’s head, where he thought it connected to the body, and swung down. He used his sword like an axe, hacking at the thick roots. Bit by bit, he cut into the head, slowly hacking it off. It stopped moving, and Hall stepped off.
SLAIN: Corrupted Moss Shambler
+20 Experience
A shared kill, they didn’t earn that much experience.
Roxhard and Sabine stepped back from the Shambler they had finished off. The Dwarf was breathing hard, flexing his right arm and holding the left limply. A Shambler must have hit him, Hall thought, as Leigh stepped over to Roxhard to heal. She laid her hands on his arm and activated the spell. He smiled at her touch.
“This isn’t going to work,” Sabine said, pointing at the Shamblers. “Just two of the things took a lot out of us.”
“I agree,” Hall replied, crouching down next to the one he had killed. He poked through the body with his sword, seeing if there was any loot on them.
He felt the tip hitting something hard in the middle of the Shamblers chest. Ripping aside the vines and roots, he reached down and pulled out a hard object about the size and shape of a softball. It had skin like that of a nut and once had been smooth but was now pitted and cracked. It was black, feeling foul to the touch.
Success!
You have harvested: Corrupted Shambler Heart
Skill Gain!
Herbology Rank 2 +.3
He held it out to Leigh.
“What has the corruption done?” Leigh gasped, staring at the object. “That was once beautiful. A perfect golden seed, taken from the Branch itself.”
